


Sleep Well, Mr Brittas ...

by DivineVarod



Category: Red Dwarf, The Brittas Empire
Genre: Caffeine Withdrawal, Closeted Character, Confusion, Crushes, Gay, Longing, M/M, Rare Pairings, Sexual Repression, Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-20
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 04:50:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5771983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineVarod/pseuds/DivineVarod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim Whistler has noticed the changes in Gordon Brittas - what does he make of them? And what does he really think of his boss? (Set a few weeks after "Yes Mr Brittas")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep Well, Mr Brittas ...

Tim Whistler stared at the couch and smiled in amusement: He was quiet at last …!  
Gordon Brittas was laying on his back sleeping peacefully on the sofa. The manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre had been up the entire weekend, creating and devising a new questionnaire Tim knew no-one would ever fill in. - At-least not properly. He was surprised to find that he almost felt a bit sorry for the man, the questionnaire was certainly well intended this time. Still, more than 200 questions on the general happiness and well being of the staff accompanied by diagrams and four pages to explain your answers in-depth was enough to drive even the most patient of staff members round the bend.  
  
They had noticed something was off the moment he arrived. Usually careful to the point of enticing a whole new form of road rage Mr Brittas now nearly rammed two cars and clipped the light of another when parking his Austin Maestro on the manager spot. High on coffee he had stayed alert enough to greet the staff and lead their Monday meeting in which he handed out the survey and their new schedule for the week. He even managed to annoy Julie but then started to struggle as the effect of the caffeine wore off.  
He and Gavin had supported Brittas to his office where the manager had passed out behind his desk while trying to explain the benefits of pulling all-nighters to get the job done.  
Colin, whom had followed them, nearly had a fit fearing Brittas had died – again. When finally reassured that his boss was in fact still amongst the living and simply exhausted the Deputy Manager immediately begun guarding the office door like a loyal watchdog. Colin refused to let anyone enter, not even for an emergency as “Mr Brittas needs his rest!”. He could get quite aggressive with anyone daring to disagree.  
Unable to get Brittas alert enough for comprehensive conversation Gavin had called Helen, asking her if she wanted to pick her husband up. She cheerfully suggested they'd do everyone a favour and let him sleep, anyway she had things to do. Apparently she was visiting another sick uncle in London today.  
So they had carried Brittas to the couch. Tim had been surprised the manager weighed so little, but was reminded of the fact that underneath his ridiculously oversized suits was a remarkably well kept body. He remembered his surprise when he first saw it.  
  
Looking at his sleeping boss intently Tim noticed things he'd never given much thought before. Mr Brittas had a curiously pleasant face when he wasn't talking or stressed. He was in a strange way – dare he say it? - quite pretty. Fast asleep with his curls flowing freely (Brittas had forgotten to gel today) the man looked years younger, there was something almost childlike about him. Tim was mesmerized by the change in Brittas and noted that this wasn't the first time he'd felt some attraction towards him. He wasn't attracted enough to do anything about it, but he did love checking his boss out and flirt.  
Often at home he found himself discussing Brittas with Gavin. Recently he'd remarked he thought their boss had such “interesting” eyes. They were hazel but could change colour depending on his mood: from deep green to black. Gavin had laughed at him: “You seem rather obsessed with someone you claim to hate so much.” This had thrown Tim. It was rather odd, he felt, thinking about Brittas' eyes for no good reason. Well, actually, he did have a reason. The eyes had been staring at him a little too intensely lately and that wasn't all: Brittas kept staring at him during staff meetings, calling him into his office, singling him out. It was really getting quite annoying but, in a strange way, exciting too. There was something in the way Brittas looked at him that was different to how he looked at other people. He saw longing, pleading almost. But for what?

Could Brittas be … attracted to him? It surprised him that the thought did not seem weird. In many ways Gordon Brittas was almost the template of the closeted male. Raised in the 60's in a more or less conservative family (his brother was a priest for crying out loud!) Obsessed with rules and regulations and acting how people expected you to. Brittas was sometimes borderline homophobic, as that was the attitude most people in sport and leisure had. But it was clear he didn't want to be, which had kind of touched a soft spot in both Tim and Gavin. Oddly on occasion he seemed obsessively interested in the subject of homosexuality and called them into his office to discuss it, Sadly the poor man had no gay-dar at all. (Gavin had told him how Brittas had often questioned his (Tim's) sexuality but for some strange reason believed that Gavin was a ladies man.)  
  
Well, maybe he gave the man too little credit. For someone usually unaware of double meanings he was surprisingly quick on the uptake where gay double entendres were concerned. Those where the only times he'd ever seen his boss blush. He would pause for several seconds and just stand there, licking his lips, unsure how to respond. Quite cute. He loved how he could silence Brittas with just an arch of his eyebrow or being slightly flirty. One time he'd taken his breath away when talking about blowing on something with a slight tone of innuendo to his voice. It was priceless seeing his eyes change from green to black in a flash. From the way Brittas swallowed you could see he'd touched a nerve. It was almost too easy.  
  
Yes, there was definitely something of the closeted male about Gordon Brittas.

Tim in many ways adored his contradictions: In one breath the man could talk about masculinity, encourage him and Gavin to be real men while then merrily discussing his favourite musicals (especially “The Sound of Music”) without batting an eyelid. Brittas never seemed to notice how women were dressed but on the other hand he had quite a good eye for fashion and was well versed in styling and make up tips. He was also very specific in how he wanted the men to look (except for Colin, he'd long since given up on that.) Thinking about that: Mr Brittas seemed quite fascinated by the male body. One time when a particularly well built male specimen had stripped off in front of him Brittas had actually frozen on the spot for what seemed like an eternity and just stared. It was against the rules to strip outside of the dressing rooms, but Brittas had not complained (non of the staff had either, but that was another story.)  
  
As an out and proud gay man Tim wondered if he should help his boss, figure out if he really was closeted. Being scared of who you really are is always damaging. In fact it could very well explain a lot of Brittas' behaviour. But how should he go about it? How would he casually strike up a conversation with his boss about sexuality? That wasn't something you just did, especially not with someone as gated as Brittas. He could ask Helen, maybe she'd be grateful, it could help her introduce an open marriage. Not that she particularly needed anymore encouragement on that front.  
  
Maybe, he pondered, maybe he should trick Brittas into an empty locker-room one day and just kiss him – after discussing and planning it with Gavin, of course. Snogging the life out of Brittas wouldn't actually be that unpleasant – in another universe and with another personality he would almost be fancyable. If worst came to worst he could always claim he'd been to see another hypnotist.  
Oh, who was he kidding, he would never do that, would he?  
  
Gavin entered, Tim's pool duty was starting.  
Taking one last look at Gordon Brittas Tim got up.  
“Sleep well Mr Brittas.” he said softly.  
For a second the manager stirred, then he smiled in his sleep and whispered something that sounded suspiciously like:  
“Tim …”


End file.
